Chapter 6: Formative Assessment 6. Formative Assessment Formative assessment is traditionally a key use of edtech because feedback loops are vital to improving teaching and learning. As we have emphasized throughout this report, a top priority with AI is to keep humans in the loop and in control, which includes focusing on the people engaged with formative assessments: students, teachers, school leaders, families/caregivers, and others who support learners. In the definition below, please note the overlap between definitions of AI and formative assessment; both have to do with detecting patterns and choosing a future course of action (that adapts to learner strengths and needs). Assessment refers to all those activities undertaken by teachers, and by the students in assessing themselves, which provide information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged. Such assessment becomes “formative assessment” when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching to meet the needs. 6.1. Building on Best Practices A number of dimensions hold potential for shaping the future of formative assessments, and many have ready extensions to the field of AI-enabled systems and tools. For example, the 2017 NETP discussed how technology can lead to improved formative assessments along seven dimensions, listed below: 1. Enabling Enhanced Question Types: To give students more ways to show what they know and can do. 2. Measurement of Complex Competencies: To better elicit growth in important skills that go beyond typical subject matter standards, for example, in measuring practices, social skills like teamwork, selfregulation, and 61 | P a g e
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